CAFFEINE CITRATE 10MG/ML ORAL SOLUTION

Transcript

Please read all of this leaflet carefully
before your baby is given this medicine.
• Keep this leaflet. You may need to
read it again.

• If you have further questions,
please ask the hospital doctor who

is looking after your baby.

In this leaflet:
1.What Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral
Solution is and what it is used for
2.Before your baby is given Caffeine Citrate
10mg/ml Oral Solution
3.How Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral Solution
is used
4.Possible side effects
5.Storing Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral
Solution
6.Further information

1.What Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral
Solution is and what it is used for
• Caffeine belongs to a group of
medicines known as methylxanthines
• It stimulates breathing, and is used
to treat apnoea of prematurity
(breathing difficulties as a result of
being born prematurely).
2. Before your baby takes Caffeine Citrate
10mg/ml Oral Solution
Your baby should not be given Caffeine
Citrate 10mg/ml Oral Solution if there is
known hypersensitivity (allergy) to any of the
ingredients listed in paragraph 6 overleaf.
Special care is needed with Caffeine Citrate
10mg/ml Oral Solution when your baby:
•
•

has liver or kidney disease
has had any unusual heart rhythms
detected.

Please tell the doctor looking after your baby
of any of such problems.
As with most medicines, Caffeine Citrate
10mg/ml Oral Solution may interact with
other medicines given at the same time. A
premature baby may need many medicines,
and any problems with caffeine are likely to
be minor, but tell the doctor about any other
medication they may not know about,
particularly any other medicine (for example
theophylline) given to your baby to help it
breathe.
If you, as the mother, drank a lot of coffee, or
took any other high caffeine‐containing
product just before your baby was born,
some caffeine may still be present in your
baby’s circulation. Tell the doctor about this.
Medications containing phenobarbitone or
phenytoin, taken by the mother herself to
treat epilepsy, may also have an effect on the
way the baby reacts to caffeine therapy. If you
have been taking treatment for epilepsy
during pregnancy, please tell your baby’s
doctor about it.
Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral Solution
contains 3.04mg sodium per 1ml of the
solution, which the doctor will need to
consider if your baby is on a controlled
sodium diet.

3. How Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml
Oral Solution is used
The doctor or nurse will administer
Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral Solution by
mouth or via a gastric feeding tube. The
exact dose depends on each baby’s needs
and response to the treatment, but will
usually be:
• A starting dose of 20mg/kg of the baby’s
body weight calculated as caffeine
citrate (equivalent to caffeine 10mg/kg
or 2ml/kg
of this solution).Continued overleaf

•Followed after 24 hours by a lower

5. Storing Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ ml Oral
Solution
Caffeine Citrate 10mg/ml Oral Solution
needs to be kept out of the reach and sight
of children. There are no other special
conditions of storage.

daily maintenance dose of 5 to
10mg/kg of the baby’s body weight
calculated as caffeine citrate
(equivalent to caffeine 2.5 to 5mg/ kg
or 0.5 to 1ml/kg of this solution).

Use by date: Do not use Caffeine Citrate
10mg/ml Oral Solution after the expiry date
on the label, or if there are any signs of
discolouration or clouding of the solution.

If your baby fails to respond to the
starting dose (after at least 4 hours), the
doctor or nurse may give one more
higher dose, before continuing to the
lower maintenance doses.

Caffeine acts as a stimulant to the
nervous system. Side effects from this
action may include restlessness or
jitteriness. Caffeine may also aggravate
any tendency to vomiting.
If you think your baby is showing any
of these side effects, or you notice
any other effects after caffeine
treatment, please tell the doctor
immediately.

Other side‐effects are not visible, but
will be detected by the monitoring
equipment used in the special care baby
unit:
•your baby may produce more urine
than usual, and as a consequence
blood levels of certain chemicals
(sodium, calcium and glucose) may
be affected.
• Increased blood pressure or heart rate
The doctor may decide to check the
levels of caffeine in a blood sample as a
precaution, or if your baby is not
responding to treatment as expected.

Accidental overdosage: If too much caffeine
solution is accidentally given to your baby,
the side effects described above may
become more noticeable. In cases of very
high overdosage, fits can also occur. If signs
of over‐dosage are noticed, please tell the
baby’s doctor immediately.

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided here is accurate, up-to-date and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. This information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States. The absence of a warning for a given drug or combination thereof in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. If you have questions about the substances you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.